So What?
by Tracy137
Summary: Charlie O’Reilly has met Mick St. John and she really likes him,despite his being a vampire. But she also knows Beth’s feelings for him are doomed… he's a vampire and she....well, isn't. MSJB One shot. COMPLETE!


_**DISCLAIMER: The setting and characters belong to CBS, a production company or two, and pretty much anyone who isn't me; I do this for fun and not profit and I only really own Gracie and Charlie. Well, that and a new addiction to 'Moonlight'. ;O)**_

_**Fancied doing a few one shots along the same storyline for the show ''Moonlight'; so here's my little story about what happens after Beth has told her best friend, Charlie, about Mick.**_

'_**Thoughts'**_

"**Speech"**

**Summary: Charlie O'Reilly has met Mick St. John and she really likes him, despite his being a vampire. But she also knows Beth's feelings for him are doomed. He'a a vampire and she...well, _isn't._  
**

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_**SO WHAT?  
**_

There was a knock at the door and Charlie opened it almost straight away; Mick frowned "you know you should have a chain right? Or a spyhole, something that means you _don't open_ the door right away."

"Why?" Charlie smiled as she stepped to one side to let him in "whose going to attack me?"

"You never know." Mick liked Beth's friend, and didn't want her to get hurt. One thing that being a vampire had taught him was that the evil that men did was worse than she could ever imagine. He looked around "Beth here?"

"In the kitchen – I was just getting some lunch." She gestured to the small room which, with three full grown adults in it, seemed even tinier than usual. Mick didn't comment; despite his apartment being bigger than her entire house, he liked the homely feel her home exuded. He felt comfortable here and would often turn up for a coffee and a chat in the six months since Charlie had come to know his secret.

Most of the time he was with Beth, or following her (though not in the creepy stalker way of course), but there were other times he came on his own. It was nice to have two friends who viewed him as more than an oddity but also not as a threat. Of course the real icing on the cake was Gracie; Mick adored the little girl and she seemed to feel the same way about him.

His friendship with the child touched both Beth and her mother; they both felt for him and thought he would've made a brilliant dad. Mick loved that she knew what he was and wasn't frightened. She even slept without a night light now; when he asked her why, after Charlie had told him, Gracie had shrugged "I don't need it now Uncle Mick – you'll always be here to help me if I need you."

He'd nodded and hugged her tightly "you bet I will short stuff" he'd murmured _"always."_

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This afternoon he stood in the kitchen as Charlie got some lunch for her and Beth. He watched her potter about the tiny kitchen, making sandwiches and coffee. Suddenly she grabbed a pot from the stove and poured out something that looked liked tomato soup. "It's pigs blood, but I figured you wouldn't be too fussy right?" she grinned at him.

Mick was touched; even Beth had never accepted his vampirism enough to give him blood, animal or otherwise, as a meal. She merely assumed he would deal with it after he left. He took the mug of warmed blood with a grateful smile; he didn't tell her that he usually injected it – he felt it would be rude, like someone saying they didn't like broccoli with a meal.

Beth rolled her eyes as Charlie took a swig of milk straight from it's container so she could swallow the pills she had to take to keep various illnesses in check "you know you could use a glass?"

"You know sound like my mother?" Charlie grinned and arched an eyebrow as Beth let out a scandalized gasp.

Mick grinned at the easy banter between the two women; something obviously borne of long association. For a moment a pang of envy shot through him as he realized he genuinely missed this sort of thing.

"Are you going back to the UK for Christmas?" Beth asked.

"No, mum and dad said they'd come here this year." Charlie gave her friend a conspirital look "I think they're trying to avoid Martha – she's made noises about a huge family Christmas meal. Of course Anthony's not invited, so mum and dad felt it better to avoid it if possible knowing what _my_ reaction would be."

"So they'll tell her then?" Beth asked, already knowing the answer.

Charlie grinned and shook her head "of course they won't! That'll be down to me; after all, I'm the only one of the family who isn't afraid of the old dragon."

"Is she that bad?" Mick asked.

Worse!" both the women said together and laughed. Beth smiled "I only met her once, but wanted to kill her immediately….enough said really,"

Mick nodded "You're not known for your violent tendencies that's for sure!"

Charlie pulled out a number of bottles from an overhead cupboard. Beth eyed one or two them "shouldn't you be taking more of those?" she indicated two large pills that Mick reckoned a horse would choke on.

Charlie grimaced "probably; but to be honest if I swallow many more pills during the day, you could use me as a maraca by the evening."

Beth rolled her eyes but said nothing; obviously this was an old discussion which she'd given up on. Mick grinned; even as a human he'd hated taking medicine of any kind, so he sympathized with Charlie's feelings.

0-0-0-0-0-0

He sat on the sofa as the two women chatted; suddenly he heard a noise, almost at the same time he registered it Charlie stopped talking and cocked her head as if listening.

"What?" Beth looked at them both "what is it?"

Charlie looked at her "can't you hear it?"

Beth shook her head as her friend looked at Mick "you?"

He nodded "a clicking right?"

"Yeah, it's the third time today and I can't find where it's coming from." She rose gracefully from the sofa and wandered over to the window.

"It's not outside" Mick murmured as he stood beside her, both of them blinking at the late evening sunlight.

"_What_ clicking – what does it sound like?" Beth sounded exasperated as she too came to stand beside the others.

"A clicking - you know 'click, click, click" Charlie muttered "nothing scary, just…irritating."

Beth looked at Mick "should we be worried?" she trusted him implicitly he'd come to realized; a realization he treasured more than she'd ever know.

"Don't know – I'll go check around." Beth smiled her gratitude; her big blue eyes warming him with the affection in them.

Charlie, the more pragmatic and independent of the two, spoke "finish your….drink first." She indicated the mug with the blood in it.

Mick swigged it down "okay all gone – _now can_ I go find the noise?"

"Knock yourself out tough guy" Charlie shrugged and added in a whiney little voice "us little ladies will just hide away in here in case the boogeyman might get us."

Mick leant up close to her ear "didn't anyone tell you?"

She fell for it "what?"

"I am the boogeyman!" he whispered before adding louder "BOO!"

She laughed and slapped his arm "yeah and the dark is afraid of _me –_ I have a bumper sticker proclaiming it and everything!" She waved her hand "go – go find the big bad."

After he left she turned to Beth "he likes you – a _lot_. Probably as much you like him."

Beth said nothing, but she blushed beet red. Charlie grinned and tweaked her friend's cheek in a way that she knew would irritate the hell out of her "star crossed lovers, awwww….sweet."

Beth slapped her hand away and glared at her "just _what_ the hell does that even _mean?"_

"Think Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Samson and Delilah, Anthony and Cleopatra and of course _themost_ famous couple of all – Cathy and Heathcliff….."

Beth blinked "but they all died, or at least one of them did and it _always_ ended really badly."

Charlie smiled "ah but you have thing on your side – one of you is_ already_ dead. So _technically_ you've got the odds beat on that one."

However Beth wasn't placated "but nevertheless….."

Charlie patted her arm "I was only teasing, okay? Jeez since when did you have sense of humour bypass?"

Beth was not to be put off "Charlie, I have known you a _ton_ of years and so I ought to know by now when you're 'teasing'; this is _not_ one of those times. Tell me what it means _exactly,_ okay?"

Charlie heaved a sigh and wished she hadn't said anything at all; but she knew better than to argue when Beth's face had the 'look'. "It means that there are things standing in the way of the relationship. Somehow stopping the couple being together - happily anyway.

For instance it could mean they're ill-fated in astrological terms, their stars are not in alignment. In horoscopes, it is said that two persons are compatible if their stars are aligned. So when someone says star crossed, it means their paths are meant to meet but staying with each other would only bring misfortune to them and those around them."

Beth's eyes filled and she blinked back the sudden pricking of tears "so when…" she swallowed and continued "when he tries to keep me at arms length, just as a friend, I should let him?"

Charlie shrugged "Beth, look, the heart wants what it wants; an easy platitude I know – but a true one all the same. There's nothing we can say to it if it recognizes a kindred soul."

She hugged her friend "it'll all come out in the wash – remember how my nan always used to say that, and didn't it? So what if you_are_ 'star crossed', so what if he _is_a vampire and you're a human; if you're happy who cares?"

Beth nodded into Charlie's shoulder; but deep down, in a place she didn't even want to acknowledge, she knew her friend was right.

She and Mick were about as star crossed as they came – but what in God's name could she do about it? And, even if she could come up with a plan for them to be the first ones in the history of the world to thwart fate, would Mick actually _want_ her to? She was a human after all; she was going to die - get_ old_ and die. He wasn't - he was going to live forever; how could she _ever_ get around _that_ fact?

She stepped back and looked at her friend, anguish and indecision written all over her face "so what? So what a lot Charlie - so what a _hell_ of a lot!"


End file.
